Two key climate change indicators have broken numerous records through the first half of 2016, according to NASA analyses of ground-based observations and satellite data. Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880. Meanwhile, five of the first six months set records for the smallest monthly Arctic sea ice extent since consistent satellite records began in 1979. NASA researchers are in the field this summer, collecting data to better understand our changing climate.

Stanley P. Rhodes, SCS Global Services Founder and CEO, delivered a short, impassioned speech on the importance of confronting our climate challenge now while accepting the prestigious Acterra Award for Sustainability at the awards ceremony in May 2016.

Meet Esau Sinnok, an emerging leader in the climate movement. Esau hails from the village of Shishmaref, in Northwest Alaska, where the centuries-old way of life is changing. Essential ice is being lost, but he is refusing to stand by while his home melts away. Join Esau in the fight to keep dirty fuels in the ground!

NASA scientists used almost 30 years of data from the NASA/U.S. Geological Survey Landsat satellites to track changes in vegetation in Alaska and Canada. Of the more than 4 million square miles, 30 percent had increases in vegetation (greening) while only 3 percent had decreases (browning).

This is the first study to produce a continent-scale map while still providing detailed information at the human scale. "It shows the climate impact on vegetation in the high latitudes," said Jeffrey Masek, a researcher who worked on the study and the Landsat 9 project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The study, led by NASA scientist Junchang Ju, is online here.

Temperatures are warming faster in the Arctic than elsewhere, which has led to longer seasons for plants to grow in and changes to the soils. Scientists have observed grassy tundras changing to shrublands, and shrubs growing bigger and denser – changes that could have impacts on regional water, energy, and carbon cycles. With the large, continental-scale map complete, researchers will focus on the more human scale – looking at local conditions to see what might control the greening patterns, whether it's local topography, nearby water sources, or particular types of habitat. They also plan to investigate forested areas, particularly in the greening Quebec.

According to many conservatives, the core purpose of government is to protect rights to life, liberty and property. If greenhouse gas emissions threaten to violate those rights, then government must act against the threat. You are invited to come hear Niskanen Center President Jerry Taylor discuss the conservative and moral imperative for addressing climate change—and how it should be done.

Terisa Tinei Siagatonu is a spoken word artist/arts educator and community organizer from the Bay Area. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, she is currently the Project Director for PIER: the Pacific Islander Education and Retention project at UCLA, an access project that exists to combat the low matriculation rates of Pacific Islander students into higher education by offering services ranging from free tutoring, mentorship, and peer advising to Pacific Islander high school students in Los Angeles. Her emergence into the spoken word world as a queer Samoan women and activist has granted her the opportunities to perform on stages ranging from Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theatre to the Women’s Stage at the 2010 Oakland PRIDE Festival. She has worked as a poet mentor with Youth Speaks, the leading nonprofit organization for spoken word performance and literary arts education in the country, as well as on grassroots levels with groups such as One Love Oceania, a queer Pacific Islander women’s organization from the Bay Area, the Samoan Community Development Center of San Francisco, Empowering Pacific Islander Communities of Los Angeles, and Engaging Education of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her devotion to her Pacific Islander people and her work with college access and spoken word poetry helps her to drive the development of Pacific Islander youth, advocating for self-empowerment so they can create sustainable impact in their communities, starting with themselves.

Published on May 19, 2016Spoken word artist Isabella Borgeson shares her piece on Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), one of the strongest storms that hit the Philippines on November 8, 2013. Follow her on Twitter.